I'm quite new to Hollyoaks, EastEnders is the only soap I've stuck at. So I was wondering if Hollyoaks has always been an absolute mess?

There's no general storyline, just pointless plots shoved together into one episode, and even they don't last. The Sienna stuff was interesting but then suddenly she stole the engagement ring and ran Patrick over?

Getting into a soap is always quite confusing but I just can't get to grips with what is going on.

This is a bit of a rough patch atm. It is more tongue-in-cheek and melodramatic than the other soaps but it's generally fun and not afraid to stir things up.

Definitely.

It's in an awful state at the moment. Nowhere near as good as it used to be years ago.

Its been extremely good before but its a proper mess at the moment.

It used to be brilliant. It even was slightly realistic once upon a time. Now it's a shambles.

As somebody who's watched HO from around 2006/2007, I can safely say I've completely lost interest in it now. The extremely OTT storylines, the change in characters to suit development, the overused screen time of certain characters.

For example one word, Tony.. His affair with Sinead, doing it behind Diane's back etc. just to me isn't Tony. As an original character, if I was his actor I'd VERY annoyed.

Theresa.. Yawn and her new baby with seven names.

Sienna would be such an amazing character, if she was in the style of Ronnie Mitchell on EE as in, yeah she might be villainous but she's got some good in her. Sienna's just overused now and thrown down our throats.

It's now only entertaining because it's so bad it's hilarious

The Sienna / Dodger plot is just a step too far. It's meant to be a big twist, but her fancying her twin is actually just gross.

I'm enjoying it. It's nice to watch something that makes you escape reality at times. It's just a very fast paced and action packed soap to watch. When I'm watching EE it's depressing. Seeing Linda how she is after her rape is not a nice thing to watch.

Plus with HO there's twists and turns that keep people on their toes. I see EE have copied HO with all these shock twists this year.

Its basically at the dregs at the moment - when you consider hoe good it was in the past its really dropped in quality.

I don't think it helped that Brendan, Mitzee and Jacqui all left with Birkwood coming into it and then the general feeling that he NEEDED to have a mass cull, when in actual fact the show wasn't in a bad state when he joined and (like eastenders) has just made it worse.

Hollow storylines, 2D characters and a load of old garbage - the hospital siege has to be one of the worst set of episodes any soap has produced (and yes I'm not really watching anymore)

It seems to be different to other soaps, it's fast paced with shock twists, however, it doesn't have a general storyline, just random plots shoved together. But they are entertaining tbf.

They do comedy quite well, I was laughing tonight at Mercedes comments when Teresa was giving birth.

exactly this.

when it was based on the students at Uni, the high turnover of characters was covered because students come and go, then they got rid of that and now have to kill people off all the time.

bring the uni back I say

The sad thing is that Bryan was bought back because there was such a poor reception to Emma Smithwicks first six months but her second six months were the best state the shows been in for the last five years (except for some brief spells in 2011).

The mass cull killed the show and the same stuff happens over and over again. Freddie has repeated the same storyline about 15 times.

There has been 22 deaths in the last 2 years and 10 pregnancies. Guns have become such a frequent thing and the fact that there's so much gang drama and death they replaced a set that's had a role for 18 years with a hospital because so many people end up there.

It never used to be this bad.At the moment seems a case of plots repeating or going around in circles,characters having personality changes just to fit in with these stories.Then many deaths,pregnancies and wrong arrests.Dont get how it'll work having a hospital as a main base.If it'll work at all.

Its entertaining but probably not in the way they think it is lol

It's light hearted. It's proper stories are not really that tense or gripping tbf.

I've watched from the beginning and even enjoyed the stupid moments (lawnmower race!). If I missed episodes during the week I would catch up with the omnibus (still miss T4 as my hangover cure). I've not watched since last Monday and it has disappointed me that I haven't missed it. Hollyoaks has often been ridiculous, but enjoyable with it. Now, it is just ridiculous. There are far too many negative's for me to mention.

I have to say though, Tony's infidelity is a character trait - engaged to both Izzy and julie. His brain has always been down below - no wonder he has had so many failed businesses!

^ This! I don't know why anyone sees Tonys behaviour as out of charcter. He was engaged to two people at the same time, he slept with Mercedes behind Jacquis back, he abandoned Mandy in a foreign country for being infertile, He slept with Theresa which is wrong on any count and he only stayed with Diane in the first place because Jacqui done a runner. He's always been a creep.

If you compare the show now to how good it was with Brendan's storylines with Ste and Walker and all the stuff with Silas it has gone so far downhill that I cant even watch anymore. How can the producer not see that he has completely wrecked the show and killed off most of the characters the viewers cared about. At this point the only way of resurrecting the show is for Brendan to return but why would Emmett want to come back to this mess.

With regards to the BIB I have to disagree. It is very Tony. He had an affair with his best friends mother many years ago, and then had an affair with his girlfriend Mandy's mother. He's always been a bit of a prat which is why I'm not that surprised he's bonking Sinead behind Diane's back.

Thank you!!! I always read people saying 'do they think we have short term memories!' When complaining about plotholes but then are shocked that Tony would cheat on Diane. Similar to couple weeks ago when everyone thought it was ridiculous that Sonny escaped the drowning car yet warrens return from death was acceptable!

Yes, it has. At times it has been really outstanding. This is decidedly not one of those times. In terms of quality, it has completely gone down the toilet but, hey, who cares as long as the viewing figures appear reasonable and it inexplicably won the Best Soap award in its worst ever year?

The scary thing is, it will keep winning awards as the shows PR machine canvasses after each episode in the lead up to the soap awards. It shameless in the way it does so, knowing that it has a young fan base who will use their mobiles to vote and then no doubt go online and vote again.

I have no doubt in my mind come next years awards the same will happen again and it will walk away with a string of awards.

That's a strange remark. The shows been on for 19 years, Brendan was there for 2 and a half. There is a million ways for the show to work without him much like the 15 years before he arrived.

Bryan isn't solely to blame. I don't know what stories this Emily girl who was a producer came up with but she vanished pretty quickly from the credits.

Of course. Though it's been worse as well.

A lot worse! Jo Hallows run was absolutely shocking from 2002 to 2004. That was the era where we getting regulars for 3 months at a time who would just vanish and people really truely were cast as models not actors. They were a big fan of fantasy sequences and cheap special effects like a scene I can't find where a lecturer looks at onw of the Burton twins chest and it grows with poor CGI.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hA-fyBgPSo